Joël Matencio

Joël Isidore Matencio (6 September 1948 – 24 January 2022) was a French serial killer and criminal.

Matencio was first implicated in the murder of a CEO, who was killed in July 1974 before being found four months later. He was charged along with two other men and briefly imprisoned between August 1974 and March 1975, before being released along with one of the three defendants.

After suffering a stroke in 1995, Matencio was released on 14 December 2001 on medical grounds. In 2004, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the authorities were at fault in relation to Matencio's state of health. Following false rumours of his death in 2009, Matencio died on 24 January 2022, aged 73.

Biography

Early life and first court cases Joël Matencio was born on 6 September 1948 in Villard-Bonnot. He has an older sister.

On 19 September 1966, Matencio, aged 18, Bernard C., aged 16, and Christian C., aged 14, began a series of acts of vandalism in Grenoble, dubbed the Belphégor affair by the press and media. Over a period of eight days, Matencio and his two accomplices used slingshots to throw nail-cavaliers at passers-by and smash 1,000 shop windows to smithereens. This series of misdeeds claimed 17 victims, one of whom was a policeman who questioned Matencio and his accomplices; Matencio was seriously injured in the eye. Matencio and his accomplices were arrested on 27 September, but claimed that the crime had been committed as a result of a game they had discovered. After being held in police custody, the three perpetrators were charged with damage and unintentional violence. Only Matencio was placed in a rehabilitation centre, while Bernard and Christian were released.

Matencio married in 1970 and became the father of two children. In 1973, Matencio was arrested for pimping and imprisoned in the La Santé Prison. There he met Daniel Le Sant, one of his fellow inmates, with whom he struck up a friendship. The criminal court sentenced Matencio to one year's imprisonment. Matencio was released in February 1974 and moved to Lyon to find a job. He frequented the Grand Hôtel de Lyon, where Yves Marin-Laflèche was chairman and CEO. Matencio worked as a waiter, but didn't do much work. He regularly ended up unemployed because of his absence from work.

Investigations into Marin-Laflèche's personality showed that he was a passionate homosexual, unstable, drawing people of unequal morality into his whirlwind, shuffling large sums of money, showing himself to be by turns downcast or triumphant, capable of extreme kindness and reckless folly. We also note that the missing man was familiar with two former prisoners already convicted of burglary who had been released a few months earlier: Joël Matencio, aged 25, and Daniel Le Sant, aged 32. The investigation also revealed that Calvy, the legal adviser, had no real connection with the missing man, as some people told the investigators that Marin-Laflèche feared Calvy. Furthermore, a witness stated that on the night of 6 to 7 July 1974 he had seen Le Sant, alone, at the wheel of Mr Marin-Laflèche's car, in the very place where the police had found the vehicle.

On 8 November, Matencio and Le Sant were taken from their respective prison cells to face three witnesses. This confrontation led to Matencio and Le Sant being charged, this time with murder, for which they risked the death penalty. Back in prison, the accused, with the help of their lawyers, applied for their release on the grounds that their pre-trial detention was unjustified.

A request for release was made on 15 November, insisting that there was insufficient evidence to charge Matencio and Le Sant with the murder of Yves Marin-Laflèche. Matencio and his defence counsel, Mr Joannès Ambre, decided to rely on a procedure set out in article 662 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which the Criminal Division of the Court of cassation may relinquish jurisdiction over any investigating or trial court and refer the case to another court of the same jurisdiction: either if the court with normal jurisdiction cannot be legally constituted, or if the course of justice is otherwise interrupted, or on grounds of legitimate suspicion. On 13 March 1975, the Indictments Division of the Lyon Court of Appeal granted Matencio and Le Sant's request for release, approving the fact that their remand in custody was not justified.

In September, Matencio faked a burglary in his marital home and set it on fire. He reported the incident, but was soon identified as the perpetrator of the fake burglary, not least because of his previous criminal record. When questioned, Matencio admitted that he had faked the burglary because his involvement in the Marin-Laflèche case had prevented him from finding a steady job. He was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, with extenuating circumstances, and walked free of the courtroom.

On 16 June 1976, Matencio bought a 7.65 × 17 mm Browning pistol from his friend Tomassini. The next day, he confided in one of his friends about his financial difficulties, explaining that he could no longer find work because of the Marin-Laflèche affair, and admitting that he might ‘do something stupid’.

Matencio sent a third letter on 30 June, in which he indicated the location of the victims' car. Investigators found the vehicle on a road in the Seiglières forest. By telephone, he arranged a meeting with the Grenoble public prosecutor, but failed to attend. At the beginning of July, Matencio set the ransom at 400 million francs.

Murder of Olga Moïssenko On the night of 23 to 24 July 1976, at around 1am, Matencio abducted Olga Moïssenko, aged 21, from a car park in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, while she was in her car with her fiancé, Marc Chavot. After overpowering Chavot with his pistol, Matencio loaded Moïssenko into his car and drove to a wood in Gières (near the ruins of the Château de Gières), where he shot and killed the young woman before burying her body and driving off. For his part, Chavot reported his girlfriend's abduction, giving a brief description of her kidnapper: ‘1.70 metres’, ‘20-25 years old’, ‘medium-length brown hair’. A new judicial investigation was opened into the kidnapping.

The ‘Red Brigades’ and ‘Group 666’ affair At the end of July 1976, the press and media picked up on the affair, now known as the ‘Red Brigades’ and ‘Group 666’, but made the mistake of publicising the meeting arranged by the ‘Red Brigades’. Matencio heard the news and decided not to go to the phone boxes for fear of being arrested. The investigators in charge of the case soon realised that ‘Group 666’ never went to the appointments they had set up, leaving them in doubt as to whether it even existed. What's more, the police were convinced that a single perpetrator was linked to the three abductions, based on Chavot's testimony. Shortly after the story broke, Matencio managed to find a job as a waiter and gave up writing to the press for several weeks. The search continued for the bodies of the three missing men, but to no avail.

On 29 September, Matencio sent another letter, signed ‘Red Brigades’ and ‘Group 666’, claiming that he had killed Leroy and Trabelsi because no ransom had been paid. He gave the location of the bodies, which he said he had buried in a wood in Saint-Martin-d'Uriage. This information was quickly passed on to the investigators, who went to the scene the next day to find the two bodies. The two victims were found on 1 October, following directions given by the kidnapper. Leroy and Trabelsi were quickly identified from their clothing and personal effects found at the scene. The autopsy showed that death had been caused by a 7.65 calibre bullet, but contradicted the statements as to the date of death. The state of decomposition of the bodies, linked in particular to the drought of 1976, showed that the death had occurred several months earlier - at the time of the disappearance - and not a few days earlier as Matencio, still unidentified, had stated.

Following the discovery of Christian and Muriel's bodies, the judicial investigation was reclassified as murder. Major resources were deployed. As for Matencio, he went to Paris for a few days' holiday. The 8pm news on 19 October decided to broadcast the voice of the ‘Man of the Red Brigades’ and the letters he had sent. Matencio's sister and brother-in-law saw the programme and recognised his voice and handwriting, which were similar to that of the ‘Man from the Red Brigades’, and informed the police station. In addition, four other people recognised Matencio's voice after hearing it in the newspaper.

Arrest, imprisonment and trial On 20 October 1976, Matencio, aged 28, was arrested at his nursing home and taken into custody at Grenoble police station for the murders of Leroy and Trabelsi and the disappearance of Moïssenko. At the start of his interrogation, Matencio denied any link with ‘Group 666’ and denied any involvement in the crimes. This argument was undermined when Matencio's voice was compared to the six people who had formally identified him. What's more, Matencio's handwriting was formally recognised by those close to him when they were shown his writings. Matencio acknowledged that he was the author of the calls and letters sent, but claimed that he had acted under threat from ‘Group 666’. When questioned about the existence of this group, Matencio stated that he did not know anything about it.

At the end of his police custody, on 22 October, Matencio was charged with murder, in relation to Leroy and Trabelsi, ‘kidnapping and illegal restraint’, in relation to Moïssenko, as well as robbery and attempted fraud. He was remanded in custody at the Grenoble-Varces prison. In addition to Matencio's arrest, Joseph-Francis Miggliacio, one of Matencio's close friends, was taken into custody, but quickly released.

Matencio's arrest caused a stir in the local press, especially as it came just two years after he was implicated in the Marin-Laflèche case. The portrait of a serial killer gradually took shape, although this image was only American in the 1970s. In France, 1976 was also marked by the arrests of Bernard Pesquet and Marcel Barbeault, two particularly prolific serial killers. In the same way as these two killers, it appears that Matencio acted alone for a specific motive: financial. In addition, Matencio was questioned on numerous occasions, to no avail, in order to find Olga's body, which the investigators believed at that stage to be dead.

Trial and conviction On 23 October 1981, Matencio's trial began before the Grenoble Assize Court. He was 33 years old at the time. On his arrival in the courtroom, Matencio stuck to his last version of events, explaining that he had been threatened and held by the fictitious ‘Red Brigades’ group. The trial focused in particular on the myth of ‘Group 666’ and the ‘Red Brigades’, which Matencio had invented purely for the purpose of extorting money, almost going so far as to pass himself off as a member of the Mafia. Matencio's narcissistic personality also stands out, with the aim of vindicating his crimes by showing himself to be superior to the police.

On the penultimate day of the trial, 29 October, Matencio finally admitted to the double murder of Leroy and Trabelsi, as well as the murder of Moïssenko, whose body has yet to be found. When the president of the court asked him where Moïssenko's body had been found, Matencio gave up, pointing to a spot in a wood in La Tronche. Unusually for an assize trial, the presiding judge decided to devote the hearing of 30 October to moving all the spectators to the location indicated by Matencio. Several searches were carried out at the location designated by Matencio, but these were unsuccessful and were abandoned.

On returning to the courtroom, the court described Matencio as manipulative and suspected him of having made the court move for yet another lie. Initially scheduled to end on 30 October, the trial was extended by a day due to the time spent on futile searches. The public prosecutor requested life imprisonment for the accused. On 31 October, Matencio was sentenced to life imprisonment, in accordance with the prosecution's request, for the murders of Christian and Muriel, the presumed murder of Moïssenko, as well as the thefts and the attempted theft of money.

Discovery of Olga Moïssenko's body and dismissal of the Marin-Laflèche case In November 1981, Moïssenko's parents sent several letters to Matencio at the Grenoble-Varces prison, seeking information about the whereabouts of their daughter's body. Having received no reply from the prisoner, they contacted Matencio's parents. Matencio's mother decided to contact her own mother, as Matencio had a very close relationship with his grandmother.

With regard to the murder of Yves Marin-Laflèche, Matencio, Le Sant and Calvy, who has since been released, are still charged by the Lyon public prosecutor's office. This delay is linked in particular to Matencio's crimes, suggesting that he was not necessarily a stranger to this crime, whose sole motive appears to be financial. At the same time, Matencio was transferred to the Maison d'arrêt de Fresnes, a prison for people serving long sentences. On 5 February 1985, Matencio, Le Sant and Calvy were acquitted of the Marin-Laflèche murder.

At the beginning of 1997, the judge responsible for individualising detention regimes examined the request made by Matencio's lawyers and granted his transfer to another prison. In April, Matencio was transferred to the Maison Centrale de Poissy. After sixteen months in hospital, Matencio was suffering from the serious after-effects of his stroke, including monoplegia of the right upper limb, monoparesis of the right lower limb, dysarthria and vertigo. An application for release was then lodged, based on Matencio's degree of incapacity. In a report issued on 19 September 1997, the Commission technique d'orientation et de reclassement professionnel (COTOREP) found Matencio to be 80% incapacitated. However, the sentence enforcement judge refused to release Matencio, deeming his health compatible with his detention.

Matencio devoted his last years to poetry, writing and publishing numerous poems under the pseudonym Descamino. He died on 24 January 2022, aged 73, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.